Temple-ing it up in Siem Riep.

After a long rest in Siem Reap Rooms, I got up to a hearty breakfast and some chats with fellow travellers (the couple beside me were from Northern Ireland - you can't go anywhere, seriously!) I explored Siem Riep on foot for a bit whilst April slept on. It is a seriously lovely town; very different in style to Phnom Penh - there are traces of French colonialism everywhere.

Me on the streets of Siem RiepAfter April had arisen, Phil (the hostel owner) gave us tips on exploring Siem Riep and the surrounding areas. He asked us what we liked and recommended some itineraries for us. We also had a tuk-tuk driver, Charl, on standby to take us wherever we pleased.

Laura arrived just in time for us to set off for sunset at Angkor Wat. If you've ever been, I don't need to explain how absolutely breathtaking the first sight of Angkor Wat is. The trip in the tuk-tuk was fun, watching all the little street stalls set up opposite the lake and the temples themselves. There were crowds streaming towards the entrance (and it wasn't even high season!) which we followed and we walked up to the main temple to watch the sunset. We watched the monks hurry across the pathways for prayer, resplendent in robes of gold/orange. Over the noise of the birds we could hear their chanting carried on the wind. It was very calming and there is something amazingly spiritual about the place. I can't explain it, to be honest so I'll just post some photos.....

People say it's more spectacular when the sun sets over Angkor Wat itself (The sun moves around at different times of year) but I've never seen anything quite so spectacular.

We were all fairly quiet as we toured around, taking in the magnificence of the temple. It's remarkable how much detail is in the carvings from thousands of years ago. I sometimes wonder if we're getting it wrong  - all the new gadgets and fandangled inventions - these people carved epic scenes in stone! It really is a wonder of the world. 

We visited the famous Red Piano for dinner, a popular day and night spot with great views over the bustling market and streets. We didn't sample the Tomb Raider cocktail there (every tenth one sold is free! Alarm bells were going off every second with people winning free drinks) as we were also doing sunrise at Angkor Wat so had a 4am start. The food was tasty, but nothing really beats street noodle soup in Cambodia. 

So after a fulfilling day we crept back to our fabulously comfy beds for dreams of temples and days gone by.

On sleeping and a rough ride to Siem Reap

Sleep, or lack of, is very important to me, particularly when travelling. I always want to have the energy to do everything on the itinerary but I'm not 20 anymore so I can't go days without sleep. So some notes.....

Never, ever take a sleeping pill to grab 40 winks. You may find out you wake 4 and a half hours later and have missed something great. This happened to me in Phnom Penh, but more on that later. There are lots of corollary's to this however....
Don't ever take a sleeping pill or herbal sleeping aid before a night out, as you will likely be a little dazed and confused throughout the night and alcohol will not help.
Sleeping pills ARE actually super for napping on buses, trains, boats etc...just ensure your baggage is safe.
I also found them good for when you really do need to get some sleep (i.e physically demanding trek next day)
Valerian root is a good herbal alternative. Two of these and you'll be gonzo after about twenty mins... for at least 4 hours, even if you're a dreadful sleeper like me.

A well-travelled friend once told me how herself and friends used to lie perpendicular with their legs against a wall, the blood rushes to the head making it great for a quick nap. Whenever I think about her I can never get this image out of my head (4 girls in a hostel in India, asleep with their legs in the air).

When we left Koh-Rong we wanted to get to Siem Reap in the easiest manner possible. After our usual hour or two sleep, we got up and out of our hut (7am!), had breakfast a little further along the beach and then boarded our boat back to Sihanoukville, a little sorry to be leaving the paradise of the island. From there it was a minibus to town and we thought we might catch a bus to Siem Reap directly. We were wrong, even though it was only noon, it had already left. So hot, bothered and tired we decided to get a taxi. I may have mentioned this before but SERIOUSLY - Agree taxi fares in advance, say you will pay half first and half WHEN YOU REACH YOUR DESTINATION. April and I got nicely ripped off whilst on our way from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. We said we would pay for a taxi the whole way {thinking it would save time and be more comfortable...ah the naivety of the little travelled}. We paid USD 130. This IS a rip-off. When your tired and realise you have probably about 7 hours of travel ahead, it seems a small price to pay. Our first taxi driver was on the phone constantly, he also didn't speak a single word of English. The A/C didn't work, as such I had guzzled 2 litres of water an hour into the trip and we were both soaked with sweat. Opening the window was infinitely worse as most Cambodian roads are dusty, and it was pretty humid outside too. We were unceremoniously dumped on the side of the road in Phnom Penh where another gent picked us up. He was very friendly but he was an absolutely chaotic driver and when it got dark we genuinely weren't sure if we would make it out of that car alive. There are no street lights on these roads, no railings and many places were flooded due to recent rains. We had two seriously near misses where he actually screamed, we landed (Yes, we had been slightly air-bound momentarily!) on the road and he laughed maniacally, telling us that had been close. April and I were actually holding hands at this stage. He also claimed many times that he hadn't been paid but I point blank refused to pay another cent. We had already paid 130USD for one taxi which had turned into two!! Also, rather than just get to Siem Reap we had to stop at a roadside restaurant for he and his friend to eat (oh yes, he also picked up a random friend on the way! Two girls with two men in a taxi in a foreign country at night, we were imagining the headlines). I just wanted to get there. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep due to the wild driving and also I badly needed the toilet. In Siem Reap he wanted to bring us to another hostel, a usual ploy of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, but again I stood fast on the place we had booked. I am sure the man thought I was an awful bitch but I hadn't slept properly for 3 nights, hadn't had a proper shower in the same amount of time and we had been travelling from 8am that morning (We reached Siem Reap around 11.15pm). I cannot express our manic delight when we checked into Siem Reap Rooms.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Siem-Reap-Rooms/Siem-Reap/31747
 It was gorgeous. Set down a quiet street, it was pristinely clean, there were sandwiches available even though we had checked in late and the gruff owner Phil was so helpful to us.
I will never forget how April and I were nearly delirious with glee to discover that hot water came out of the fully functioning shower in our lovely, clean, spacious room. We were actually giggling as we washed our feet together and then clambered into huge comfy single beds for hours of interrupted sleep.

Koh-Rong - off the map

Koh-Rong is two hours off the coast of Southern Cambodia, technically somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. To anyone else in the world - it's Timbuktoo or Narnia, not many will ever get to go there but believe me it's worth it.

It's basically a like a beachfront village. There is no five-star accomodation here - in fact I think the tree-top hut April and I inhabited for our stay ($15) was about as classy as it gets. The only disconcerting part was that after we'd walked down the wooden quay to the beach (after getting off the boat) we entered Coco's (after removing our flip flops - everyone in the bar is barefoot) and the first thing I hear is a Dublin accent.... Almost 11, 000 km from home...sure where else?

Our hut - Fabulous, although we were convinced there was a polar bear from "Lost" underneath it one night. This may have had something to do with copious amounts of alcohol and some hallucinogenics... we didn't plan on the hallucinogenics by the way.... but on a remote island in South East Asia...well, let's say you're always going to get more than you planned for.

There is very little electricity on the island. Coco's had a generator but all the lights outside the bar go off around 1am. We made our way back to the hut in the dark or by candlelight, we also heard alot of other people falling around the place in the dark late at night.

The few days spent there were passed in a hazy bliss, massages overlooking the sea as the sun went down.... delicious noodle soup served in a shack which had a roof but only two walls (people lived there and dogs and chickens ran all around our feet), snoozing in the sunshine after swimming in crystal clear waters, drinking suspect cocktails at Coco's and dancing to questionable Euro-pop with other backpackers who'd found the island, eating fresh fish that the man went out and caught right in front of us in the ocean - with a spear no less, watching youths learning to become flame-throwers....It was all a little surreal.

My favourite little pup - BBQ!

Sandflies and puppies and Phil, the traveller from Manchester who was completely spaced out, we didn't know if he'd been there 4 days, 4 months or 4 years. I had breakfast with him one morning where we had a long discussion (mostly him - I was still recovering from casting Harry Potter spells in the bar the previous night) about how it would be if we could all read eachother's minds. Phil eventually came to the conclusion that it would be a bad idea. Excerpt as follows:

Phil: It would be bad, really bad....(spaces out for a bit - I'm still looking at him) bad, man, ye know?

Me: Yeah

Phil: Like I'm a nice guy, a bright guy and I know alot of stuff, but sometimes...sometimes I just think - I'd like to kill you, ye know?

Me: Yeah (Note I didn't even argue here, maybe I too was spaced out)

Phil: Not you personally but you know when you meet someone really stupid.....stupid, stupid (pointing at his head)

Me: Yeah

Phil: Well, like that, you're like Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! in your head like, and I wouldn't want people to know that

Me: Yeah, I know what you mean Phil.

And then he lay down on the bench again, staring into space, with one hand up shaped like a claw. He was an interesting guy.

Paradise

Standards and habits that you have at home need to go by the wayside when you're traveling. April managed to wash her hair each day in the cold water, but I mostly just had a swim in the sea and a sponge down afterwards, my hair was in an interesting condition after three days but my skin was ultra soft! I lived in a bikini and sometimes threw a ti-shirt over it.

All the children on the island are schooled in one room - which has a roof but is otherwise open air. We could hear them learning their colours in English as we passed down the beach. Absolutely charming. These people are poor though and rarely go to the mainland, we would see them washing their clothes in the sea and the clothes lines hung across the trees. They are so friendly though, always smiling. The children would run down the beach after us and giggle shyly if we said hello or waved.

There's wonderful diving and snorkelling off the island. You can even go at night, as the sharks come out then :) We were content just to read and swim and take it all in, the longest walk we managed was about twenty minutes.

There will be gecko's and mice in your room, and possibly other things too, but I thought of a hut on a lake in Thailand two years previously and just decided to go with it. There's no point stressing over these things when you're traveling - you just won't enjoy it as much. Which is not to say that I didn't sleep in with April, and all her luggage, whilst on the island (I found fresh droppings in my bed....when my mossie net had been up...) but then there's more stories in there.

Koh Rong is due for redevelopment soon, which is a real pity. I think they are going to stick some five star resort on it, and you can see why, but they will definitely destroy some of the wonderful magic they have going on there.

Staying in a shack in Sihanoukvile

After a 7 1/2 hour bus ride through the country-side (which is very picturesque by the way, but after that length of time, and mostly in the dark it gets a little tiring) we disembarked in Sihanoukville. The town was larger than we originally thought and since it was by now 9.30pm we knew we weren't getting to the island of Koh Rong that night so we set about finding suitable accommodation. We teamed up with two Swiss guys and got a tuk-tuk down towards the sea, finding a hostel/guesthouse on the corner. We checked out the log cabins and it seemed clean so we booked in for the princely sum of USD12 each.

Our cabin in Sihanoukvile

After a quick bite we decided to explore the little coastal town, first coming across two cows wandering down the main street. I wished I had a camera as it was absolutely hilarious to watch. They walked up to a little bar and a man sitting down nearly jumped out of his seat. We saw many tourists/backpackers like ourselves in the bars dotting the seafront. It was like a really run-down version of the seafronts you see in Majorca or Ibiza. There were little shacks everywhere on the beach with various genres of music blasting out and people in various stages of undress, many holding joints, dancing to the rhythms being pumped out.


We found a place where we could book the boat to Koh Rong and also accomodation in some treetop huts at Coco's. As the boat departed at 8 we decided we should head back and get some sleep for our early rise. Unfortunately sleep was not to be that night....as soon as the lights went off I heard some scratching in my bed. Terrified of bed bugs, I decided I would sleep on the covers, but that didn't work either so I moved over to April's bed. She seemed to be sleeping soundly. Unfortunately her bed was near the window so I could hear our neighbours outside their room partying. I took a panadol night....then half an hour later another......then a Xanax, then another. Eventually I gave up and just read my book. Not a nice feeling. We struggled out of the room around 7am, without showers and made our way by tuk-tuk to the meeting place for the boat....where we were told that the bus had left. He'd mistakenly given us the wrong time (although he maintained that he hadn't). We asked if the tuk tuk driver would take us to the port.... It was a battle against time, we didn't know if the tuk-tuk would make it...we tore along the streets, maneuvering in and out of traffic, animals and people... we pulled up at the port and dashed to our boat just as they were pulling up the anchor. Relieved, we sat quietly in the sun, getting our breath back and watching the boats go by.

Bye Bye Sihanoukvile! We made it!

It was the first time I really realised how far away we were. It was a great feeling but also quite emotional. April and I had been rushing around since we'd met up but the stresses of the previous month (after the break-up) were getting to me and I had a little cry on the boat. It passed quickly - I think I just needed a little release. April was great, she put her arms around me and told me, as great friends do - that it would all be fine. Watching the pretty clouds pass by and the open blue sea ahead, I thought maybe she might have a point.

They do things differently - tips I wish I'd had prior to my Cambodia trip

I thought rather than bore you with some of the anecdotes that led to these tips, I would just put them down in an easy format for you. Cambodia is a wonderful country but if you're from the Western world you have to accept that things are very different from home.

1. Bring an adaptor. Sure, it seems obvious but you wouldn't believe how many people assume "the hostel" will have one. Some do, but the more off the beaten track you are, they probably won't. We were in a small bar on an island and approx 30 people were trying to charge their ipads, iphones etc with one adapter.
Voltage: 230 V; Plugs A & C* (Some outlets are a combination of type A and C and can accept either type plug. Plug G may be found in some hotels.)

2. Do take your malaria tabs before you go. I've actually heard people bragging about not taking them. Not big and not clever. Be wary that those tabs may affect your mood, so I wouldn't recommend taking them the day before going to S21 or the Killing Fields. You might cry endlessly or decide that you're going to go and destroy Pol Pot's grave. I didn't do either thankfully (my fellow travellers might argue that point!). S21 was pretty emotional anyway.

3. Realise that time is a very loose idea in Cambodia. If someone suggests that a bus trip will take 4 hours, bank on about 7. If they say you're going somewhere in a tuk-tuk about 40 minutes away, it will be at least double. Accept it. This is how it is. Thousands of travellers don't complain and neither should you.


4. If you do have extra cash it is sometimes worth it to take a taxi. Do haggle though and do have an idea of what you think is a fair price prior to doing the haggling. We got completely done travelling from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. We paid USD130 and later found out USD75 could have covered it.   Also, pay half first and half when you get there, otherwise  - again like us, you could end up having travel arrangements you didn't bargain on (Changing to another taxi with no question - could have been fatal! No A/C etc)

5. Always buy bottled water, use it for brushing your teeth, washing vegetables etc. Dengue is on the rise, and there is no cure. Although it doesn't affect foreigners as much, it is a waterborne disease, one silly mistake and you could find yourself with a very upset tummy indeed (not nice on a 7 hour bus journey!). Maybe I was a little paranoid by keeping my mouth closed in the shower but you never know!

6. About scams and paying too much. Most of the people are very nice and not out to scam you. If you think that something is overpriced or a scam then be polite and walk away. Remember that these people have to make a livelihood too. We were quite upset that we got totally ripped off pre-dawn at Ankor Wat. We paid for tea and bread rolls and thought it was a bit pricey only to find that half an hour later other stalls had opened selling things at half the price. There are alternatives - if your hostel has food available organise that in advance - ours did www.siemreaprooms.com - it was an amazing hostel with great food and Phil is a super host/owner. You can also get breakfast if you stay on the temple tour after Ankor Wat, really reasonable and anything you want (Pancakes!).

7. Be wary of child prostitution. Everywhere you go you will see signage about hostels not allowing people to enter with minors. This is a real and serious problem in Cambodia, we saw it in Phnom Penh. Please report anything suspicious to the police. People should visit this country for it's beauty and nothing else. Also, in the markets in Phnom Penh I noticed there was normally an older girl who kept an eye on the younger children. If you can't find the police approach these girls, they are really grateful and ever vigilant.

The guys in the next hut definitely didn't obey no.3

8. Be respectful around religious monuments. This is a Buddhist country, take care not to stand with your back to Buddha's when taking photo's etc. Also, remember the whole area of Angkor Wat and the temples is sacred - dress appropriately (knees and shoulders covered).

9. Every guidebook will tell you not to give to beggars. To be honest, it's only encouraging them and keeping them out of employment. Alot of people will offer to be a guide and then expect some form of payment. There are places your money can do good. Check out http://www.tree-alliance.org/our-restaurants/friends.asp?mm=or&sm=ftr Friend's Restaurant (and shop, and beauty training school!!) in Phnom Penh. The food is fabulous, unusual and portions are huge so don't order too much. Pop next door then for fabulous handmade gifts and you can get your nails done. We love, love, loved this place.

Overall, just be safe and enjoy. Take much with a grain of salt - this is not your country. Any questions - I'm happy to answer!

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

My oldest friend April planned to travel for a few months at the end of 2012. I was envious and really wanted to join her but could only really take a couple of weeks off so we planned to meet in Cambodia.  I can't go into a day by day blog like other trips but I did take some notes....

Day 1 - First impressions of Phnom Penh was that it was so different to Bangkok - I finally felt I was in "real" Asia. The airport was tiny and the staff/police there were unsmiling. Outside was a different story. My tuk-tuk driver Pauli awaited me and negotiated the crazy streets with ease. I have never, ever seen so many motorcycles. People everywhere smiled, waved and stared (I am incredibly white, even moreso than the average Irish person and this is a source of great interest for non-Caucasians). I noticed that although everyone is fighting for space in traffic there's almost a system. They squeeze in but don't push you out of the way!

The fumes!

I was excited to be on my own to explore for the day but looking forward to April's arrival. Phnom Penh is such a mixture of the modern and the old. It is a city that still bears the hallmarks of the civil war in the '70's. Could it be called a war? It was more like wanton slaughter by a dictator, people didn't really fight back!

Bird of Peace - A bird sculpted out of recovered machine gun parts - a grim reminder of war.

The city also has a lot of greenery, small shop shacks line the streets, walking was a pleasure although people wondered why I hadn't hired a tuk-tuk or motorcycle.

There are beautifully ornate statues everywhere and Buddhist objects. Strange smells and sights assaulted me everywhere on my walk. I was warned about rats down by the river but didn't see any.

April and I stayed in Me Mates place - http://www.mematesplace.com
It had been recommended by friends and fellow travellers. It ended up being more expensive than everywhere else we stayed but it was clean and we had our own bathroom. Also, having a bar downstairs with internet was nice, and the owners have dogs (I LOVE dogs!). I didn't find any of the others guests particularly friendly before April arrived but the locals on the street were really nice and were showing me their English copybooks and trying to learn off me which was charming. I shared some of my cigarettes with them and whiled away the time until April arrived.

I felt excited about the rest of the trip and it was brilliant to have my best friend by my side again in a brand new country!

Last night in Split

Most of the boys grabbed a quick kip on the bus back to Split whilst Ryan, Lisa and I chatted boobs and bodies. Back onboard Sarah showed me her wares from shopping (including a pretty little friendship bracelet for me) as I lolled on the bed, needing a nap but knowing I had no time. A shower pepped me up and we had a quick vodka before leaving - already late for the restaurant.

We headed to a pretty courtyard in Split where Louise had booked us in for dinner. Even though we were late - once again they hadn't the table ready (did they just not believe 18 of us would turn up?). We all got seated, ordered wine and beer and set about perusing the menu. Lisa and I were both looking for a bit of seafood and after tasting Lucie's delicious octopus salad starter we knew we had made a good decision. As one can probably imagine, being so coastal - seafood everywhere in Croatia is pretty much delicious. They do like to make it in pies and quiches though which isn't really my style. I prefer it on the grill with a bit of garlic and salt - and straight to my plate. More food and wine arrived, laughs were being had around the table. We tried to get Allan and Lisa to wear their new ti-shirts - Allan's was "Nude Lifeguard"! No one was thinking about the fact that it was our last night. We discussed future group activities - a ski/snowboard trip to Lebanon, the boys doing a triathlon, my solo trips to various places next year. The restaurant rustled up a kind of birthday cake (there seemed to be alot of cream or ice cream and not alot of cake) for Allan and it was time to make our way to the end of cruise party at a nearby bar.

Chloe and I after dinner.

I had to bid a sweet goodbye to Lisa as she was ill and flying very early and then Chloe and I went on our own little tour to find the bar, and perhaps a tattoo parlour on the way. We had decided on our first night to get tattoo's together but we couldn't decide on designs etc. There had been some joking at dinner that I would get the line from "Braveheart" - "This is my island" inked somewhere on my body but I thought that might be a future regret! I was contemplating some musical notes, a melody or riff - somewhere inconspicuous but there was no tattoo parlour in sight so we settled on some shots in a side street bar before finally reaching Cocktail Bar Paradiso for the Sail Croatia farewell party. There we hooked up with our super rep Janice and had a few drinks with her before the Jager train to top them all. In our usual tradition, it had to be bigger, better and longer than anyone else's. You'd know we lived in Dubai! I don't know how the number came about - I believe it was something to do with beating other boat's tallies but 62 was decided on. It took an hour and a half to set up (mainly because some muppet stood on the bench where it was being set up and knocked half the red bulls down).

Even in the photo we can spot some of our new friends!

After we'd all had a few and mingled with the strangers, it was time to embarrass Allan (It was difficult to know whether he was embarrassed or not as he was so sunburned! You can see him at the top of the picture there - darker than anyone else). Lauren (my friend in Dubai, dating Allan) had sent gifts from Dubai for Allan to open on the night and Gareth felt it only right to give the birthday boy a snog. I've never seen Allan snog a man before and to be honest I'm not sure it will happen again! I fitted in some time to kiss Sarah (She begged) and have a little dance around. I don't even remember the music. There may not have been music!

We walked back to the boat through picturesque rain-washed streets and decided to get our party on back onboard. Drink was acquired from various places, music was set-up on the top deck and deck-chairs were dragged around. Perfect for more dancing. Our fun didn't last long, the Captain came up and asked us to not to party. A little deflated but aware that he was being perfectly fair (He did have to get up every day and cook for us) Doug mentioned a beach nearby so we decided to bring the party there. Gary even let us borrow his speakers. The beach was a bit of a walk away so many got lost along the way and there was a weird crowd there (outsiders!) when we arrived. After a vodka I decided I would head back to the boat. I was a little disorientated and seemed to have lost alot of people so I thought it would be better to go back and find them.

I met Chloe as I got on deck and we sat down with Katie and Elliot just inside the hallway on a little sofa where they'd perched many nights of the trip. There were people running around the boat and from room to room as dawn broke and all I could think of was how I had to leave so many amazing people in a few hours - including my old (and new friends) from Dubai. I was exhausted, 7 nights of drinking was taking it's toll and I was all too aware that I had to be up in about 3 hours. It wasn't the best feeling.
Suffice to say, it only got worse before I left. I managed to only get about an hours sleep, and ended up packing in the most uncoordinated, horrible mindset I've ever been in. I wasn't quite hungover but I was definitely dehydrated, I wasn't quite sober but not happy drunk. It was dreadful. Meanwhile Sarah was singing around the cabin, still drunk and completely oblivious to the fact that we had to get up and out.
As I sat on a bench beside the boat (and found my pashmina tied around it?!) in the blazing morning sunlight watching Katie spew into the port I was hit by bags of rubbish as some of the crew removed them from the boat. That was pretty much how it felt - from top deck luxury to the gutter - all in a few hours.

It was a strange last night but an amazing trip that I'm sure none of us will ever forget...
Hvala na sjećanjima Hrvatskoj.